John Isner returns the ball against Rafael Nadal during the finals match of the Western & Southern Open at the Lindner Family Tennis Center, in Mason, on Sunday afternoon.

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You look at John Isner and wonder why we're talking about the dry hole that is American men's tennis. Isner is 6-foot-10, with the wingspan of a prehistoric bird. He could serve and volley all day, if he ever needed to volley.

His first serve routinely approaches 140 mph. That's Aroldis Chapman stuff. On a tennis court, it's 60 feet from the baseline to the back of the serving box, and 78 feet from baseline to baseline. I couldn't tell you how much time a player has to react to a serve that moves across 78 feet at 140 miles an hour. ATP Tour people say it's .53 seconds. One half of one second.